A miter square is a device that has a slide that slides in a guideway in the surface of the table of a radial table saw which guideway is parallel to the sawing direction. The miter square rides on the table and is adjustably fixed at some angle to the slide which establishes an adjustable angle between a workpiece held against the miter square and the saw. Typically, a workman holds the workpiece, for example a board, tightly against the miter square with his fingers and presses forward with his arms to move the miter square and board through the saw. When the miter square is substantially offset from the saw or at an angle other than a right angle is being cut, the workpiece tends to pry away from the miter square. It is an advantage of this invention to provide a clamp to tightly hold the workpiece against the miter square without risking injury to the operator's hands or fingers and to thus enable a better miter cut.
It is a further advantage of this invention to provide an easily adjustable clamp that does not require turning of knobs to secure the clamp to the miter square or to press the workpiece against the miter square or table.
Prior patentees have proposed work clamping attachments for the same purpose. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,752,960; 2,782,819; and 2,785,709. These patents disclose various clamps which are adapted to be attached to the miter square of a saw table for clamping the workpiece tightly for sawing. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,960 discloses a clamp having one end attached to the miter square and the opposite end adjustably secured to the opposite end of the workpiece. Adjustability is provided by a threaded rod 18. It is also known that adjustability can be provided by a sliding bar bracket arrangement as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,819. Further, a bar having a series of openings therein is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,306.
A number of prior art patents disclose devices for engaging the top of the workpiece. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,560,748; 1,894,010; 2,759,503; 3,051,204; and 4,026,173. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,782,819; 2,785,709; 4,155,283; and 4,164,882 show engagement of a device at the front edge of the workpiece but do not include a front handle or parallel elongate adjustable member as will be described herein.